1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to collapsible bicycles, and more particularly to bicycles that can be disassembled for their carrying or storage in bags, for example.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known in the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,729, which describes a folding bicycle that includes front and rear assemblies that are connected together by a detachable joint at the upper end of the seat tube, and a rotatable joint at the lower end of the seat tube formed with the pedal crank axle housing. So the bicycle can be "folded" by disconnecting the front subassembly at the upper end of the seat tube and then rotating it around the rotatable joint until nesting of both subassemblies. The space took by the bicycle, even though being reduced when the subassemblies are nested, is nevertheless still cumbersome and cannot be carried easily in a bag for instance.
Also known in the art is U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,917, which describes a collapsible bicycle that includes front, middle and rear subassemblies that can be combined to form different bicycle arrangements. In their simplest form, the front subassembly comprises the steering and the front wheel, the middle subassembly comprises the major part of the bicycle's frame and the saddle, and the rear subassembly comprises the rear wheel, the seat stay and the chain stay. It is easy to see that the space reduction when the bicycle is disassembled is not the basic idea of this invention since nothing has been proposed to further reduce the size of the subassemblies, which still take substantial space.
Also known in the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,542, which describes a separable multiple-wheel cycle provided with improved coupling joints for coupling two subassemblies of the cycle and the cables running from one subassembly to the other. However, as in the previous cases, the two subassemblies, even when uncoupled, still take enough space and cannot be easily carried.
Also known in the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,190, which describes a bicycle frame in view of reducing its weight without giving up its robustness, while also giving the possibility of disassembling it into two subassemblies. However, the subassemblies still take space and cannot be easily carried.
Also known in the art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,598,923, which describes a bicycle portable as a bag. The subassemblies of the bicycle are all pivotally connected together such that they can be folded in a relatively compact arrangement, forming a casing. However, the required pivoting joints reduce the overall robustness of the bicycle. Furthermore, such a type of bicycle is limited in terms of size (because the necessity of small wheels for example) and gearing capabilities in order to be efficient and compact.
With respect to bicycle carrying means, known in the art are U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,886,988, 4,149,634, 4,353,464, 4,792,039, 4,892,190 and 4,991,715, which all describe different types of bags, boxes, cases, etc., for transport or storage of bicycles. However, each of these devices are intended for conventional types of bicycle, some of them even requiring to disassemble the bicycle in difficult and tricky ways, all of them being more suitable to protect the bicycle than to easily carrying them.